Dimbleby told the Radio Times that the popularity of programmes delving into the nation’s past suggests that people are hungry to know more because the school curriculum has failed to deliver on history.

He said: “The success of Seven Ages and other programmes – by Andrew Marr, Simon Schama and David Starkey – suggests to me that there is a great, and perhaps growing, interest in our history.

“Maybe we are filling in the gaps left by the less impressive treatment of history in the school curriculum.”

He defended the presenting of history programming by non-academics, saying: “There is a place for the specialist, of course, but there is a place too for the broadcaster with a general layman’s curiosity.’’